


she'd like to come and meet us (but she thinks she'll blow our minds)

by cassandralied



Category: Runaways (Comics), Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Human Experimentation, Morally Grey Karolina Dean, Murder, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Torture, Violence, well kinda, you know; the typical romantic comedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:42:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21715522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassandralied/pseuds/cassandralied
Summary: Nico Minoru and her crew of grumpy teenagers accidentally aid and abet a murderous alien in its escape from a government facility. Then, things get complicated.
Relationships: Chase Stein/Gertrude Yorkes, Karolina Dean/Nico Minoru
Comments: 11
Kudos: 63





	she'd like to come and meet us (but she thinks she'll blow our minds)

_“Prepare it for treatment, please.”_

She knows what the words mean -she’s a fast learner, and she’s had more than enough time to study the humans studying her.

She’s prodded out of her cage, her glow sparking yellow with anger every time they poke her with one of their lightning sticks. She shudders into the small hospital gown she’s been provided, the fabric stiff and unwashed against her bruised skin. They spent a days hurting and examining her-how she bled gold and cried silver, and how when they hit her just right, her skin might bloom purple or green. _“Like a fire-works display,”_ one of the buttons-men had said, laughing, and she had wanted nothing more than to rip his heart out and stuff it down his throat like they did to their enemies on her planet.

She’s strapped down to another one of their tables. Everything on this planet is so cold. They keep her away from the sun and she’s weak and dim.

“Help me,” she croaks in desperate Majesdanian when a new scientist comes in. The female makes a note on her pad. _“Subject is attempting to communicate,”_ she observes.

 _“You don’t know that, Dr. M,”_ says one of the buttons-men, and she fixes him with a glare. _“I don’t think I asked for your opinion, Isaacs.”_

_“My apologies, Dr. M.”_

_“You can get out, now.”  
“But what if she -”_

The “doctor” bends over the squirming alien, a satisfied look in her eyes. _“The subject isn’t going anywhere.”_

She readies an extraction needle and plunges it into the alien’s spine.

* * *

“Um, Nico?”

Nine-Inch Nails still blasts faintly from the earbud as Nico pulls it out of her ear. Purple lips twist upward into a sardonic smirk. “Can I help you?”

Alex Wilder sits down on the grass next to her. He’s probably the only one who’d dare to. Nico has what her father calls a bad attitude, and what the school psychologist calls a serious problem. Alex pops the earbud into his own ear and winces. “Can you really study to this shit?”

“We don’t all listen to podcasts in our spare time, nerd,” Nico says good-naturedly, shoving Alex with her shoulder. She watches as the bell rings and the flood of students emerges. “What possessed you to skip class, Wilder?”  
“Maybe I missed you.”  
“Ha-ha.”

Nico plucks a stray piece of grass from her black skirt, flicks it at her best friend. Alex rolls his eyes. “You’re sulkier than usual today. Your mom?”

She’s not nearly as implacable as she’d like to be, and the way her ringed fingers toy with a crescent moon pendant pretty much gives her away.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

She sort of hates when Alex gets that wise-beyond-his-years look in his eyes. Not enough to ditch him like she’s done everyone else in her life, though. He squeezes her hand. “Whatever you need, Neeks.”

It’s the night of their annual sleepover -that is, when Nico, Alex, and a few other kids from school get together for a sleepover while their parents talk about tax brackets downstairs. Nico never really dresses up for the occasion, but she’s done her hair in a half-pony and ringed her eyes with purple liner. That, plus her combat boots and Metallica tee, is the best they’re going to get.

Her mother looks disappointed, but not surprised when Nico comes downstairs. Tina Minoru is impeccable in white, as always, her hair in a tight bun with not a strand out of place. “I suppose you don’t have time to change,” Tina murmurs, as if -surprise! Nico’s choices don’t matter. “The Steins are already here. Go say hello.”

Nico sulks out of the kitchen to see Victor and Janet Stein arguing heatedly about something Nico’s senior year physics class hasn’t even began to touch. Nearby, their son Chase skulks around the Minoru hall, looking at artifacts with an appraising eye that Nico doesn’t appreciate.  
“Hey, Chase,” she says unenthusiastically. He’s possibly the only person who’s made as little effort as her to dress up, in gray sweats and a jersey that sort of clashes with his mother’s baby blue kitten heels. He nods. “Nico.”

Maybe he’s going to say something else but he doesn’t, because the Yorkes’ enter with their usual bustle. As always, Gert looks like she wants to die, and her parents look fresh off the set of _Stranger Things_ or some shit.

“You dyed your hair,” Nico says in surprise. She likes the purple. Gert toys with a strand, clearly not sure if she should be flattered by Nico’s observation or not. “Yeah. My parents took my credit card away after.”

“How socialist,” Chase says sarcastically, and the look of childish anger that crosses Gert’s face makes Nico actually take a step back, remembering how the two of them used to get into it when they were kids. The kicking, especially.

The Hernandezes come late, but they can’t go upstairs until Molly arrives. She, of course, is actually dressed up, and her cherry-printed dress makes a sharp contrast next to Gert’s artfully ripped denim jacket.

“I’m so friggin’ bored,” Gert says as she flops down on Nico’s bed without asking.

“ _Friggin,_ ” Chase mocks, his hands turning over a Wicca book on Nico’s shelf that the goth hostess makes sure to snatch out of his hands. “Hey!”  
“There’s a kid around, dumbass,” Gert retorts, and Molly finishes off her Sprite. “Hey!”

When Alex comes through the window, Molly shrieks a little bit, and Chase jumps, but Gert doesn’t even sit up. “I’m so glad you’re here,” Nico says, although her makeup doesn’t so much as crack. “I don’t know what I’d have to do with only these losers all night.”  
“Thanks,” Gert snarks. She’s practicing her middle finger. Or maybe just flipping the whole damn world off.

“Alex, the guys. Guys, Alex,” Nico introduces half-heartedly. Alex gives a little wave.

“Sup, brother,” Chase says, because he’s actually the worst.

“Hey, guys. Hey Mols.” Alex is Molly’s math tutor, and one of the only people who gets the privilege of ruffling her hair. She clings to him in a tight hug now. “Alex! I’m so glad you’re here!”

Chase snorts at that, and Gert glares at him —not in defense of Molly, probably just because the self-proclaimed socialist is itching for a fight.

* * *

The alarms are going off.

They echo in her head -everything is sharper and harder here, but she keeps going. Human blood is red, and it doesn’t shimmer like her own. She’s absolutely covered with it, although anyone who would’ve made the Carrie connection is long dead. She looks like a ghost, a wraith, and a few of the button-men take one look at her out of her cage and run.

Not that it saves them.

She tortures combination codes out of the guards with a small disturbed smile on her elfin face.

The Majesdanian stumbles out of the research facility and into a transport vehicle just as the sun’s beginning to set. Underneath the coating of blood, her skin sparkles.


End file.
